Leading aging advocates present fresh agenda for making New York City a better place to age 

LiveOn NY, a senior advocacy and membership organization, and the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging have released Aging is Everyone’s Business: Policies for Building a New York for All Ages, a comprehensive policy agenda that seeks to inspire the city’s incoming elected leaders to make New York a better, more equitable place to age.

The policy agenda provides smart, actionable solutions in nine domains that affect the lives of all New Yorkers: good governance, access to food, housing, technology, financial security, social engagement, human services, healthcare, and infrastructure.

These recommendations are critical in the wake of a pandemic that exposed devastating inequities among New Yorkers of different socioeconomic groups and put older New Yorkers of color at highest risk. LiveOn NY and Brookdale are releasing this vision at a time when New York City is only months away from a major political transition; one that will usher in a new mayor, a new comptroller, and four new Borough Presidents, and where nearly three out of four city council members will be new.

With New Yorkers living longer and healthier lives, this agenda envisions a future where everyone has the opportunity to grow old with dignity and confidence. Every recommendation in this agenda considers first and foremost the needs and experiences of the most marginalized older adults, including those who have lower incomes, racial minorities, LGBTQIA and gender non-conforming older adults, immigrants, and those who are living with disabilities.

Allison Nickerson, executive director of LiveOn NY, said, “Our City is approaching a moment where we have the chance to change our course and re-envision how we view aging across the lifespan. This aging agenda offers the City a framework to utilize that ensures all New Yorkers can live in an equitable and just city where we can all confidently age in place.”

Dr. Ruth Finkelstein, the executive director of Hunter College’s Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging, said, “Disasters reveal all the cracks in our foundation. The COVID-19 pandemic is no exception—stark inequities were revealed, stemming from systemic racism, ageism, and under-investment in poor communities. This visionary aging agenda challenges the new administration to address these realities and to make New York a great place for everyone to live and grow old.”

Examples of recommendations offered in the report include:

• Create an emergency food plan to ensure that all older adults have uninterrupted access to food before the next pandemic or natural disaster happens.
• Commit New York City to fighting ageism in all of its forms, along with racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination.
• Build or preserve 1,000 units of affordable senior housing with fully funded services, per year.
• Make basic technology education and training available to every older New Yorker so they are able to meet basic needs online.
• Help lower-income New Yorkers of all ages save for retirement by creating an investment fund to match contributions to public individual retirement accounts created through the New York State Secure Choice Savings Program (SCSP).
• Open public schools after school hours so that community-based organizations can run social programming that brings older adults together.
• Boost the salaries of the nonprofit workers who serve older New Yorkers.
• Expand the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) program to roll back and freeze rents to 30 percent of income for lower-income older New Yorkers and take other big steps toward curbing the homelessness crisis among older adults.
• Invest in programs and training that help older patients access telehealth.
• Expand and increase funding for the MTA’s E-Hail Program, which provides on-demand, door-to-door service for New Yorkers with mobility impairments.
• Prioritize street maintenance that removes hazards to pedestrians.

Read the full report.

Press Contacts: 

Katelyn Andrews, Director of Public Policy, LiveOn NY kandrews@liveon-ny.org, 609-458-6294

Brianna Paden-Williams, Communications and Policy Associate, bpaden-williams@liveon-ny.org, 908-868-7681

Debbie Raskin, Hunter College, draskin@rubenstein.com, 212-843-8028